The Players R3: Rory McIlroy laments soft bogeys on moving day
Four-time major champion Rory McIlroy has it all to do if he is to win the 2025 Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.
1. J.J. Spaun | -12 |
2. B. Cauley | -11 |
T3. L. Glover | -9 |
T3. A. Smalley | -9 |
T5. C. Conners | -8 |
T5. R. McIlroy | -8 |
T5. A. Bhatia | -8 |
T8. D. Walker | -7 |
T8. M. McGreevy | -7 |
T8. P. Cantlay | -7 |
Rory McIlroy says he played better than he scored after 54 holes of the 2025 Players Championship.
McIlroy started the third round of the PGA Tour's flagship at TPC Sawgrass in fine fashion.
With winds gusting up to 30mph, McIlroy managed to make the par in 1-under par.
But he struggled to score on the back nine and threatened to unravel after dropping shots at 12, 13 and the iconic 17th.
However, a closing birdie at the 18th saw the Northern Irishman card a 1-over 73.
He is four shots behind surprise leader J.J. Spaun, who battled his way to a 2-under 70.
Bud Cauley hit a remarkable 6-under 66 and is second. American duo Lucas Glover and Alex Smalley are on tied for third.
Overnight leaders Akshay Bhatia (75) and Min Woo Lee (78) went backwards on moving day.
"I feel like I played better than I scored," McIlroy said. "All the bogeys I made were really soft."
He added: "They slowed the greens down today for obvious reasons, and I feel like I didn't adjust very well to that.
"Then some of the chip shots around the greens, when you start to get downwind, I got a little tentative with some of those, as well.
"Most of the dropped shots were from around-the-green mistakes rather than tee to green.
"I felt like I hit the ball pretty well, controlled my flight. It was nice to make a birdie on 18 at least and see one putt go in.
"[I am] not out of it by any means. The wind is supposed to still be blowing tomorrow, so yeah, it was nice to birdie that just to get one closer to J.J. on the last."
The defending champion, Scottie Scheffler, is on 5-under.
Xander Schauffele made the cut but is currently tied for 63rd.
Elsewhere, Will Zalatoris was in contention and was tied for the lead with Spaun on 11-under after he played 13 holes.
But Zalatoris dropped nine shots over the final five holes.
Notable players to miss the cut here included Justin Rose, LIV recruit Laurie Canter, Viktor Hovland, Ludvig Aberg and Hideki Matsuyama.
Ben joined the GolfMagic team in September 2021, initially as a content executive.
These days, he assumes the position of content manager.
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